240 NATURAL HISTORY. 



to the present day, having spread over the whole southern world, and in Eocene times passing north 

 even as far as Britain (Dasornis from the London Clay was as large as the Ostrich). The fish-eating 

 birds, of which the Hesperornis and Ichthyomis, as well as the later Odontopteryx, are the illustrations, 

 belong to a different type from the existing species, and if Archceopteryx is an ancient form of 

 Perching-bird, the same may be said of that too. Within the last few years, in the deposits of the 

 Paris basin, amongst remains of many genera which remain to the present day, have also been 

 discovered relics of Flamingo-like birds, and even of a Roller (Leptosomus), a peculiar bird now 

 restricted to Madagascar. Parrots were also represented in the Miocene formations, and a Guinea- 

 fowl (Numida) has been discovered in the Post Pliocene deposits near Salzburg, as well as Necrornis, 

 a defunct kind of Touraco from the bone-beds of Samson in Gascony. 



In the recent deposits of the Mascarene Islands, the remains of the extinct " Dodo," " Solitaire," 

 (Apkanapteryx), the latter being a gigantic flightless Rail with a long bill, Parrots, c., mark the 

 representations of the terrestrial fauna of a once extensive continent, now submerged, save the islands 

 of Mauritius, Rodriguez, and Bourbon. In New Zealand, again, we have the Moas, the giant Gallinule 

 (Notornis mantelli), a species perhaps not yet quite extinct, the extinct Flightless Goose (Cnemiornis), 

 and an enormous bird of prey (Harpagornis), large enough to have preyed upon the Moas. 



To conclude, let us ask this serious question : Are the people of this and other coiintries 

 doing their duty as regards the birds that live side by side with them 1 Within the last two 

 hundred years many of the species mentioned in the present chapter were yet alive the Dodo, the 

 Solitaire, and no doubt the Moa for in the British Museum are sc'ne feathers in a chief's weapon 

 brought from New Zealand by Captain Cook, which could scarcely have belonged to any other bird 

 but the Dinornis. It is by the hand of man, and principally of civilised man, that these interesting 

 birds have been exterminated. "These lost species," writes Professor Alfred Newton, " there is some 

 ground for believing were mainly, if not wholly, peculiar to the locality, and after having made good 

 their existence, maybe for ages, fell easy and helpless victims to the forces which European civilisation 

 brought into play. Chief among these forces was fire. In all countries and at all times it has been 

 the habit of colonists to burn, the woods surrounding their settlements, partly to clear the ground for 

 future crops, and partly (in tropical climates especially) to promote the salubrity of their stations. 

 When fire was set to the forest and bush of a small island, the whole of which could be burnt at once, 

 the disastrous effect on its fauna can easily be conceived. Even the animals which happened to escape 

 the conflagration itself would speedily starve, owing to the at least temporary destruction of the native 

 flora whence, either directly or indirectly, they derived their wonted sustenance." And to these causes 

 of destruction man now adds arms of precision, so that large game of all kinds fall to his gun or his 

 rifle, or, retiring gradually before him, their original habitat knows them no more, and they ultimately 

 die out. Nor is the fair sex above censure. For whose adornment are the beautiful Humming-birds 

 of South America sacrificed in such countless thousands, so that their little bodies now form a staple 

 article of trade to Europe, along with the lovely Rollers, Glossy Starlings, and Bee-eaters of Africa, 

 and the brilliant Impeyan Pheasant of the Himalayas 1 Sure extinction awaits these birds, if not 

 in our generation, at least in the next, for if the species can save themselves to a small extent by 

 their wings, as the Dodo could not do, and the Apteryx cannot now, the firearms of the hunter more 

 than counterbalance the advantages possessed by the hapless birds he pursues. Stronger measures than 

 a " close time " for birds during breeding-season are needed, to contend against the persecution which 

 attends them for the rest of the year ; and nothing but the exercise of common sense and humanity on 

 the part of men and women in civilised Em-ope can save many a beautiful bird from extermination. 

 It is to be regretted that a fashion should prevail with even the most highly-educated of the fair sex, 

 which has long been banished amongst men, excepting those of the most savage tribes. That the 

 women of Great Britain may be the first to abandon the practice of decorating their wearing 

 apparel with feathers and wings of birds, a fashion which causes immense slaughter in many countries, 

 is the sincere wish of the writer. 



R. BOWDLER SHARPE. 



[NOTE. Since this article was printed, a new specimen of Archceopteryx has been examined : its zoological position 

 amongst the Birds is open to doubt. EDITOR.] 



